Why a brave man’s murder made waves

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Carlos Cardoso exposed corruption and it cost him his life. The conviction of his killers is a victory for freedom

THE JUDGE CALLED the murder “the worst ever crime in Mozambican history”. Allow him the hyperbole, for Carlos Cardoso’s death, and the sensational trial that followed it, gripped the nation.

Cardoso, Mozambique’s leading investigative journalist, was not an easy man to intimidate. So when, three years ago, he realised that the perpetrators of the most outrageous bank fraud the country had seen were likely to escape justice, he wouldn’t let the matter drop. He targeted the key suspects and the public officials with whom he believed they had conspired.